My Journal - Week 67 (30Nov10)

Independent Walker Walking For Hunter!!!

So, just for fun we cleaned up Hunter's play area, taking out unnecessary things which gives him much more space to play and walk!!  We put down more rubberized floor (this time using the alphabet/number cut-outs that I bought sometime ago) so that Hunter had a larger area to use his walker.  It has been a bit worrisome allowing Hunter to use his walker on the tiled floor since the walker can literally get away or move faster then I or Hunter would want it to so it was a whole lot easier for me to let Hunter use his walker on the rubberized play floor and also let him experiment with walking on his own.  If he fell, he would be mostly protected by the padded floor and it also prevents the wheels from sliding along the floor or slipping even when locked or reduced rotation.

What an experiment!  I still blame myself for Hunter not walking earlier because now seeing what I am only proves to me further that Hunter was willing to do this and if only given the chance to try it before, he likely would have excelled.  I guess I am the one with delays, not my Hunter!!  It's pretty obvious that when he first started standing at furniture I should have gotten someone to help me see if Hunter could try his walker since my back prevents me from bending over/down to do it with him.

Here are three short but very sweet videos of Hunter's latest progress... walking with his walker, BY HIMSELF!

ENJOY!

Oh, and just for fun, since Hunter has been attempting to sing along with me lately to his favourite song since birth, I thought I would add that into the last video for you all to enjoy!







PRODUCT REVIEW & NOTE:  The alphabet/numerical padded foam floor can be purchased from Toy's R Us.  The letters and numbers can come up from the floor and is very colourful for child interest and teaching.  The consistency of the floor is the same as the larger full colour foam padded squares.  I would however note that we purposely did not use that floor first (before the larger full squares) because the centre pieces in some of the letters/numbers such as the number six and eight have smaller circular parts that might be able to fit into a mouth of a curious baby.  For that reason when we first introduced Hunter to the alphabet/number floor I removed all of the smaller parts for his safety.  Even at this age, I still completely supervise Hunter when on this floor because he is able to pull up the numbers and letters from the floor to play with.  But I completely recommend the foam padded flooring for fun and safety for infants, especially when learning to sit, crawl and/or walk!  It has helped keep bruises to a minimum during these times!